Could not agree more. In fact I just commented on Quinn's post that collectively my wife and I have a low to moderate risk tolerance but due to a recent increase in our risk capacity, we upped our stock allocation. And, we plan to up it again in a couple of years when we have higher percentage of guaranteed income in our cash flow following a rising equity glidepath.
Interesting risk tool-I scored about where I expected at the high end of the average/moderate category. If my wife took it, I'm pretty sure her score would show less risk tolerance. This difference has led to several discussions, most of them productive. :) It's also one of many reasons why we have a financial advisor. I don't think I am likely to forget my 401k becoming a 201k in 2008 and taking 5 years to recover even though I kept contributing and even increasing my contributions. We a have a safety first retirement income strategy. For last 7 years in early retirement we have been 50/50 but last year after buying QLACs our risk capacity increased so we moved to 60/40. Our plan is to move to 70/30 in a couple of years when we move start delayed SS and I turn on conservatively invested deferred comp distributions. A rising equity glidepath.
Could not agree more. Although I can't say it was well-planned because I could not wait to retire with megacorp burnout, part-time consulting for the past 7 years in early retirement has been very worthwhile. Ill be 69 this year and its given me a bridge to delayed SS without drawing on retirement funds, a continued sense of contribution and accomplishment and some great trips in which my wife and I added personal travel. Although I am cutting back some, I even had a couple years where I earnt enough to add a bit to our retirement security.
Both-and that is what it accomplishes for my wife and I with myself claiming at 70 and she at 67. And I would emphasize Guaranteed Monthly Income(s) with a COLA and a lower taxation rate than ordinary income.
Mike's tool is great and has helped numerous folks (as have his relatively short and simple books on Investing, Social Security and others including More than Enough which I am currently reading and finding helpful). There is a ton of research and background data supporting the tool in the design and behind the curtain-he spent a couple of years working on it. There are lots of ways to customize and play around with the results. My wife and I came to a similar conclusion. And, we decided to claim at similar times, with myself at 70 and she at 67 which is in a couple of years.
I generally tend to agree Jonathan and am staying the course. That said, I do also expect the limits of power to be tested this time. The current Supreme Court is worrisome.
I recently saw a readerboard outside a restaurant that said "Dogs Welcome. Tie your kids to the pole outside." We do a lot of car and hotel (and occasional short term house/condo rental) travel with our two small dogs. We happily donate the cleaning fee. More and more hotels are dedicating specific rooms to pets and this makes sense for guests who are allergic. Even though the rooms supposedly get a thorough cleaning, it could be an issue for those folks who are sensitive. We try our best to be respectful of other guests-one thing that has worked very well-my wife got a dog stroller and we use this all the time in hallways and elevators (although we try to stay on the ground floor) to minimize interactions. Also helps during unpacking and packing the car.
Good article. #5 here. None of our withdrawal decisions are based on the markets which removes a lot of angst/concern/monitoring for us and gives us the "license to spend" not to mention peace of mind. We use an LMP-liability matching portfolio. The liability is the projected gap between guaranteed income (SS, pensions, annuities) and all expenses, not just fixed. And that gap is covered by a rolling TIPs ladder with one TIPs maturing annually covering that year's gap. More than half of assets are in stocks for long term growth and stocks are frequently the source of funding the TIPs when doing well like the last couple of years.
I was on a retirement finance social media site recently and the posted question from a pre-retiree was: "What, if anything, has surprised you about retirement?". My somewhat glib initial answer was that what surprised me was that I didn't like it. I found I was, in fact, bored and unfulfilled-in baseball parlance "not ready to hang up my cleats". A reason for the surprise was that I had been on the long runway to retirement for several years at megacorp and the job had become increasingly draining-all I could see was the finish line. After I retired, we went on a very nice trip visiting a National Park, part of an established joint retirement plan to visit all the NPs. After getting home though, I put up a shingle on LinkedIn and to my surprise got part time contracting/consulting work. That was 7 years ago. Some of the work has involved travel and my wife has joined me and we have added personal travel around the work. On one trip to Switzerland she reconnected with a Swiss exchange student who had attended her high school. They now have regular calls and visits. On other trips we have been able to visit distant relatives and friends to renew and sustain relationships. I have really enjoyed the work and helping young folks. From a financial perspective, although we would have been OK if I wasn't still working, doing so has had huge benefits including a bridge to delayed SS without drawing on retirement accounts. On the home front, I've been able to develop a structure of fulfilling activities and social engagements, some with my wife and some not, now such that I am slowing down the work a bit and the motivation for working is not quite as strong although I'm not ready to say with finality that I am hanging up the cleats just yet.
Good article. 1 and 10 here. 1-part time consulting. Being transparent it was not something that was planned and we very likely would have been fine without the income but it sure has helped in a few areas... I just found after I retired from my megacorp at 62, I wasn't ready to stop working completely-that was 6+ years ago. The income is variable but we haven't had to draw anything from our portfolio and in fact allowed my wife and I to both buy QLACs in June even while doing some significant travel, buying a new car and putting on a small addition to our house. 10-a 10-year rolling TIPs ladder which will be maintained throughout retirement with the amount of TIPs adjusted to the gap between projected income and expenses.
Comments:
Could not agree more. In fact I just commented on Quinn's post that collectively my wife and I have a low to moderate risk tolerance but due to a recent increase in our risk capacity, we upped our stock allocation. And, we plan to up it again in a couple of years when we have higher percentage of guaranteed income in our cash flow following a rising equity glidepath.
Post: What’s your Risk Capacity?
Link to comment from January 25, 2025
Interesting risk tool-I scored about where I expected at the high end of the average/moderate category. If my wife took it, I'm pretty sure her score would show less risk tolerance. This difference has led to several discussions, most of them productive. :) It's also one of many reasons why we have a financial advisor. I don't think I am likely to forget my 401k becoming a 201k in 2008 and taking 5 years to recover even though I kept contributing and even increasing my contributions. We a have a safety first retirement income strategy. For last 7 years in early retirement we have been 50/50 but last year after buying QLACs our risk capacity increased so we moved to 60/40. Our plan is to move to 70/30 in a couple of years when we move start delayed SS and I turn on conservatively invested deferred comp distributions. A rising equity glidepath.
Post: Do you understand your tolerance for risk? Really, honestly? I’m not sure most of us do. By RDQ
Link to comment from January 25, 2025
Could not agree more. Although I can't say it was well-planned because I could not wait to retire with megacorp burnout, part-time consulting for the past 7 years in early retirement has been very worthwhile. Ill be 69 this year and its given me a bridge to delayed SS without drawing on retirement funds, a continued sense of contribution and accomplishment and some great trips in which my wife and I added personal travel. Although I am cutting back some, I even had a couple years where I earnt enough to add a bit to our retirement security.
Post: Taking Center Stage
Link to comment from January 25, 2025
Both-and that is what it accomplishes for my wife and I with myself claiming at 70 and she at 67. And I would emphasize Guaranteed Monthly Income(s) with a COLA and a lower taxation rate than ordinary income.
Post: Open Social Security – interesting finding on optimization and mortality tables
Link to comment from January 18, 2025
Mike's tool is great and has helped numerous folks (as have his relatively short and simple books on Investing, Social Security and others including More than Enough which I am currently reading and finding helpful). There is a ton of research and background data supporting the tool in the design and behind the curtain-he spent a couple of years working on it. There are lots of ways to customize and play around with the results. My wife and I came to a similar conclusion. And, we decided to claim at similar times, with myself at 70 and she at 67 which is in a couple of years.
Post: Open Social Security – interesting finding on optimization and mortality tables
Link to comment from January 18, 2025
I generally tend to agree Jonathan and am staying the course. That said, I do also expect the limits of power to be tested this time. The current Supreme Court is worrisome.
Post: Limits of Power by Jonathan Clements
Link to comment from January 18, 2025
I recently saw a readerboard outside a restaurant that said "Dogs Welcome. Tie your kids to the pole outside." We do a lot of car and hotel (and occasional short term house/condo rental) travel with our two small dogs. We happily donate the cleaning fee. More and more hotels are dedicating specific rooms to pets and this makes sense for guests who are allergic. Even though the rooms supposedly get a thorough cleaning, it could be an issue for those folks who are sensitive. We try our best to be respectful of other guests-one thing that has worked very well-my wife got a dog stroller and we use this all the time in hallways and elevators (although we try to stay on the ground floor) to minimize interactions. Also helps during unpacking and packing the car.
Post: No “Go-Go” by Kristine Hayes Nibler
Link to comment from January 18, 2025
Good article. #5 here. None of our withdrawal decisions are based on the markets which removes a lot of angst/concern/monitoring for us and gives us the "license to spend" not to mention peace of mind. We use an LMP-liability matching portfolio. The liability is the projected gap between guaranteed income (SS, pensions, annuities) and all expenses, not just fixed. And that gap is covered by a rolling TIPs ladder with one TIPs maturing annually covering that year's gap. More than half of assets are in stocks for long term growth and stocks are frequently the source of funding the TIPs when doing well like the last couple of years.
Post: Spending It
Link to comment from January 11, 2025
I was on a retirement finance social media site recently and the posted question from a pre-retiree was: "What, if anything, has surprised you about retirement?". My somewhat glib initial answer was that what surprised me was that I didn't like it. I found I was, in fact, bored and unfulfilled-in baseball parlance "not ready to hang up my cleats". A reason for the surprise was that I had been on the long runway to retirement for several years at megacorp and the job had become increasingly draining-all I could see was the finish line. After I retired, we went on a very nice trip visiting a National Park, part of an established joint retirement plan to visit all the NPs. After getting home though, I put up a shingle on LinkedIn and to my surprise got part time contracting/consulting work. That was 7 years ago. Some of the work has involved travel and my wife has joined me and we have added personal travel around the work. On one trip to Switzerland she reconnected with a Swiss exchange student who had attended her high school. They now have regular calls and visits. On other trips we have been able to visit distant relatives and friends to renew and sustain relationships. I have really enjoyed the work and helping young folks. From a financial perspective, although we would have been OK if I wasn't still working, doing so has had huge benefits including a bridge to delayed SS without drawing on retirement accounts. On the home front, I've been able to develop a structure of fulfilling activities and social engagements, some with my wife and some not, now such that I am slowing down the work a bit and the motivation for working is not quite as strong although I'm not ready to say with finality that I am hanging up the cleats just yet.
Post: Revising Retirement by Marjorie Kondrack
Link to comment from January 4, 2025
Good article. 1 and 10 here. 1-part time consulting. Being transparent it was not something that was planned and we very likely would have been fine without the income but it sure has helped in a few areas... I just found after I retired from my megacorp at 62, I wasn't ready to stop working completely-that was 6+ years ago. The income is variable but we haven't had to draw anything from our portfolio and in fact allowed my wife and I to both buy QLACs in June even while doing some significant travel, buying a new car and putting on a small addition to our house. 10-a 10-year rolling TIPs ladder which will be maintained throughout retirement with the amount of TIPs adjusted to the gap between projected income and expenses.
Post: Bridge the Gap
Link to comment from November 16, 2024